3D Printer Breaks Kickstarter Tech Funding Record
[GP edit: There may be a video available at the link]
by Sam Laird
Mashable
October 23, 2012
You may be able to download your sneakers before too long, but to really get in on the fun you’ll probably want to have a 3D printer at home. Enter the Form 1, a Kickstarter project billed as “an affordable, high-resolution 3D printer for professional creators.”
Just how excited are Kickstarter users about a quality 3D printing device they can actually own? The Form 1 recently became the site’s most-funded tech campaign ever. At time of this writing, it had raised $2.46 million in donations, obliterating its original goal of $100,000. According to Kickstarter’s listing of campaigns that have raked in the most cash, the previous funding record for the tech category belonged to the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, which raised $2.44 million earlier this year.
That record does come with a small caveat though, because of how Kickstarter categorizes projects: the Pebble watch, for example, raised over $10 million this spring but is listed as a design, not tech, project. A Kickstarter spokesperson told Mashable Tuesday morning that the Form 1 was the site’s sixth-most-funded project regardless of category.
Nonetheless, the Form 1 is an intriguing piece of creative hardware. If it’s as good as advertised, it should provide an excellent option for makers looking to print out high quality objects of their own at home. So how does the Form 1's stereolithography proces work? A laser shapes liquid plastic resin layer-by-layer. Each layer of resin then hardens after being exposed to a specific wavelength until the whole object is finished. The Form 1 team has also designed custom 3D printing software to go along with its printer.
The Form 1's retail price has not yet been set, but rewards for donors may offer some general clues — backers who pledged $2,299 or more will receive a full printing kit, although spots are running out (donation levels go up to $10,000 or more).
Check out the Form 1 for yourself, then let us know what you think in the comments — how much would you pay for it?
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